Belgo-Dutch bank Fortis has submitted a remedy to the European Commission as part of the review of its joint-acquisition of Dutch rival ABN Amro with consortium partners Banco Santander and Royal Bank of Scotland. The commission has extended the review deadline to 3 October.
The deal – potentially the largest ever in the history of European banking – required three separate notifications to the commission from each of the consortium members. The notifications were submitted on 14 August.
The remedy offered by Fortis is suspected to concern SME banking. The commission was set to reach a decision on its initial review of the bid by 19 September.
Because of the natural horizontal overlaps between Fortis and ABN Amro, this part of the transaction is attracting the most interest from regulators. The commission's probe into the business banking markets is focussed on the level of product competition between the two banks for small and medium-sized businesses and the ability of banks either to muscle in on deals or tempt customers to switch.
Santander's notification is the only one running under the simplified procedure. RBSG's notification is under the normal procedure. A commission decision on both those sections are still slated for 19 September.
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